Stroke of luck

Senior seizes final shot to play collegiate golf

Growing up, golf had always been a huge part of senior Brianne Tansey’s life. She played in numerous U.S. Challenge Cup tournaments during her childhood and was the only girl on her high school team.

But as a nursing major, it was a difficult decision for Tansey to continue her golf career at college.

After speaking with the head coach of Sacred Heart’s team she was told that balancing the work of being a nursing major and the commitment of a student-athlete would be too difficult, forcing her to give up her ambition of playing collegiate golf.

However, this past summer she was given a second opportunity when Quinnipiac announced it would add a women’s golf team.

“There was no doubt in my mind that I’d at least look into and try out when I saw the email for the new team,” Tansey said. “I had always wanted to play for a college team and this team could not have worked out more perfectly for me. Being the last and ‘easiest’ semester so far for nursing, I can juggle both without too much conflict.”

Once Tansey made the team she showed enough talent and leadership that head coach John O’Connor named her team captain.

“Brianne’s a special individual. She’s a senior, a nursing major, so she has the confidence that goes with being a senior in the first place,” O’Connor said. “Not only is she confident because she’s the best golfer on the team, she’s also a nursing student and typically the nurses are confident people. They know what they’re doing and they work hard at what they’re doing, and she brings that with her.”

Once the team was formed, Tansey and most of her teammates needed to put in a lot of work to prepare for the team’s first season, since they had not played muchcompetitively in the last few years.

“The team played a bit last semester at Laurel View, which helped me get back into the swing,” Tansey said. “I went to the driving range with the team and my dad a number of times after coming back for the spring semester.”

Tansey led the Bobcats in their first invitational at Country Club of Woodbridge on March 29 by placing ninth in a field of 19 golfers. She was also one of the team’s top performers along with freshman Jennifer Forlenza in the Monmouth Hawk Invitational as they shot two-day totals of 200 and 198, respectively.

“I went into the season not expecting a ton from myself having not played much in the last four years,” Tansey said. “I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m only expecting to play my best, have fun and enjoy this opportunity I never thought I’d have.”

While the women’s golf team is not yet at the level of the other golf programs, Tansey is enjoying her dream and focused on establishing the foundation of the Quinnipiac women’s golf team.

“I think we’d like to just set a name for ourselves as the first Quinnipiac women’s golf team and just have fun,” Tansey said. “I’m really proud of the team for playing with class and for representing Quinnipiac as well as they have.”